He walked the aisles of the vast tomato greenhouses of producers of Cléder, in Finistère. Without a mask but at a good distance from his interlocutors, President Emmanuel Macron wanted to salute "the second line" which keeps the country's activity in the midst of a coronavirus epidemic. "I come to thank the employees who feed the country," said the president during his visit to the Roué brothers, market gardeners for five generations and members of the largest French vegetable cooperative.
Accompanied by Marc Keranguéven, patron of SICA Saint-Pol-de-Léon, a vegetable juggernaut, the president thanked the farmers for continuing to work. "Everyone played the game in a great way, with bosses and courageous employees who went to work, sometimes they were afraid but they came, to continue to feed the country. Thanks to Ferme France. She held on. We can be proud of it. I hope that our fellow citizens will be reconciled with this fine job which is that of feeding the nation, ”he repeated to officials of agricultural unions. Emmanuel Macron alluded to “agro-bashing” targeting part of the profession.
"The Covid crisis has had no impact on our market so far"
This Wednesday, the head of Cancale (Ille-et-Vilaine) Olivier Roellinger had however regretted that the president turned to producers of an intensive model. “In Brittany, tomatoes grown above ground and out of season in greenhouses heated all year round and then sold in supermarkets do not embody the new agro-food model that President Macron asked us to imagine for another collaborative and ethical world. ", He tweeted.
In Cléder, Thierry and Jean-Marc Roué cultivate 2,500 tonnes of tomatoes without pesticides under 4.5 hectares of greenhouses. They normally employ around 30 people, including around 20 seasonal workers. Their activity is currently continuing thanks to employees recruited via the “Arms for your plate” platform, launched by the National Association of Agricultural Employers and supported by the public authorities.
"The Covid crisis has had no impact on our market so far," says Jean-Marc Roué, for whom the visit of the Head of State "is recognition for the employees". The operators have argued for a development of French production and criticized the distributors who do not play the game.
The President of the Republic will have the opportunity to put it in the ear of the boss of System U, who must accompany him on his visit to a Super U supermarket in Saint-Pol-de-Léon.
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- Containment
- Agriculture
- Coronavirus
- Society
- Covid 19
- Reindeer
- Emmanuel Macron
- Tomato
- Vegetables